The entertainment district within the sect was as lively as ever in the evening, various restaurants and entertaining parlours called for customers and fatigued cultivators or those with bursting pockets sook their next target for the day, in particular a group of three walked down the bustling streets as the small figure in the middle darted around looking at the various interesting things to be seen.
"Pretty! What's that?!" She exclaimed as she tried to pull along one of the others, these two were of course Little Xue and Shu He, while Yun Jiang trailed besides them with a small gourd in hand, taking a small swig of it as he happily watched Shu He struggle with the energetic child.
They had easily found some good quality robes suiting her for a good price, there were many to choose from since a lot of the craftsmen were practicing their basics, it was cheap as well since it contained no cultivation materials; It was a thin white and red robe with simple flour adornments, something a noble mortal would wear casually, the only problem was Little Xue's unique features.
Yes, she wasn't a simple human after all, she retained traits that would differ her from normal people, for example among her long white and red hair was a feathered flap that protected her ear canal in place of a normal human ear, on the undersides of her forearms was a lining of red feathers like her wings had, and at the base of her spine was a short tail that had plumage, luckily the robes she wore covered most of those traits and a couple hair ornaments made her ear flaps go unnoticed.
According to Elder Bai these are a result of an incomplete transformation, as he is able to retain a full human form with no inadequacies, though he did also say he could perform a partial transformation if he wanted which was interesting to Shu He.
"Slow down! The food isn't going to run away!" Shu He urged, feeling the stares pierce him from the sides of the road; Such a young child was an odd sight after all, especially one as eye catching as Little Xue, he was worried they'd attract too much attention.
Little Xue paused and turned to face him "But…" she pointed in a certain direction where a moving cart was selling buns "It's running!" she said with a tearful expression causing Shu He to swallow his words.
"That- it's not running, just moving somewhere else, you see?" they watched the cart move to another street before setting up again. "Oh! Let's go?" she tugged him along once more, so he gave in as they headed over to the cart.
"Welcome! How many can I get for ya'?" The cart owner asked when he saw the two totter up to the stall. "I'll get a couple please" asked Shu He as he flashed his token, it was only 1 point per bun, so it was fine.
The cart owner opened the oven as steam rose up into the air as he picked out two buns before wrapping them in some leaves that were stacked together in another container "Enjoy!" he said as they moved off to the side, business was booming so there wasn't much time for chit chat!
"Here, it's hot so be careful" He went to hand Little Xue her bun, but she ignored the leaf and grabbed it directly despite the warning. "Hey that's-" Shu He panicked for a second before realising she seemed to be perfectly fine, even when she bit directly into it and steam blasted from the inside she was perfectly fine.
'Is it because she's attuned to Fire, so she can stand high temperatures?' he watched in amazement as she chewed thoroughly before swallowing and pausing for a moment, after a few seconds of silent pondering- "SO GOOD!" she shouted eliciting some laughter and chuckles from the surroundings before she continued to chow down.
Shu He himself laughed lightly "Good to hear you like it" before he slightly unwrapped his bun and blew on it few a bit before taking a small bite, he may be better at dealing with high temperatures than a normal human, but he wasn't immune to food burns! The gentle taste of herbs combined with pork like meat and seasonings spread through his mouth, he could tell there were spiritual materials mixed in so it would be beneficial to eat, they weren't anything impressible thus the price.
Soon he had only eaten about 1/3 of his own bun, yet Little Xue had devoured hers with ease as she looked up at his with a hint of drool at the side of her mouth, Shu He paused as he was going to bite, he somehow felt guilty.
"I guess you can have the rest of mine, we'll go see more places anyway" He said handing it to her, she happily accepted it "Yay!" before she proceeded to devour it even faster than the last one.
"Kehehehe" Yun Jiang watched off to the side as he chuckled madly. "What?" Shu He shot him a glare. "Nothing, I was just thinking back to how your Father was when you were born" he said as nostalgia filled his eyes.
"Father?" Shu He eyes opened wide as his interest was piqued "What do you mean? What was he like?".
"Father? Dad?" Little Xue asked curiously as she cleaned her hands from the grease.
"It's means your parent, the one who gave birth to you little one… well not all the time, but generally" Yun Jiang explained to her.
Little Xue tilted her head and then glanced at Shu He before looking down in thought, then suddenly her eyes lit up "Shu He, Dad?".
"NO!" Shu He denied it immediately as Yun Jiang laughed his ass off. "No?" She said as she furrowed her brows in confusion. "I'm not even 14 I'm not going to be a father…" Shu He sighed "We're like… siblings if anything, okay? Got it?" He tried to convince her.
"I wonder what Shu Li would say to having a daughter…" Yun Jian murmured as Shu He shot a glare at him "Alright I won't complicate this any more heh." he shrugged "But your father, he was absolutely useless when you were born, it was surprising to see such a skilled person find it so hard to look after a single child".
"He couldn't have been that bad right?" Shu He asked with some hesitation, he idolised his father quite a lot yet deep down he knew just how flawed of a person he was.
"You know you weren't even a year old before he tried to take you hunting?" Yun Jiang revealed causing Shu He's jaw to drop, his memories from a baby to around 2 years old were hazy like he was drunk so he most certainly didn't remember that.
"He got a real whipping from Shu An after that, so he never did it again, but that's just an example how bad he was, hearing Shu An admonish him at the top of her lungs became a regular thing in the village for a while, it was quite a sight".
'I think I vaguely remember such things…' Shu He looked to the ground in thought, he hadn't really reminisce for a while so he was feeling a bit emotional.
"It's… a real pity" Yun Jiang whispered as he took a long drink from the gourd, his breath creating vapour in the cool air from the alcohol "I never thought that our little village would end that way… not that I would be where I am now".
He took another drink.
"I really thought that I'd pass away of old age, alone" his voice was tainted with loneliness, the memories of a lonely old craftsman laced his words as he looked towards the evening sky.
"Old Yun…" the old nickname slipped from Shu He's lips as he saw the overlap of two figures, the old worn man he saw in his youth and the finely aged man before him.
"I'm not old anymore…" Yun Jiang shook his head "I really am glad you survived Shu He, otherwise I wouldn't even be able to tell if this life was real anymore" he smiled towards Little Xue "Hear that, little girl? You take care of him, will you? He's your 'brother' after all".
"Brother?" Little Xue was caught up in his schemes as she pondered while looking at Shu He who snapped out of his little daze. "Wait, I told you not to complicate things!".
Another swig of alcohol was taken "I'll do what I want for now! What name is 'Little Xue' anyway? At least give her a proper name not a pet name! Y'know what little girl I give you permission, you're now 'Shu Xue'!".
"Shu Xue!" She replied, her eyes filled with joy seemingly happy to share a name with Shu He, even if she didn't understand it full.
"Don't!- ah, you know what? Do what you want!" Shu He stood up in a huff, dealing with a drunk elder was a pain in the ass, or so he thought. "Let's go find something else to eat, you're still hungry right?".
"Food!" The idea of food was all that was needed to attract the gluttons attention as she jumped up with more energy than ever and chased after Shu He leaving Yun Jiang chuckling while sipping the gourd.
In his eyes the two figures were reflected, both young in age and lacking experience, as he watched the two he couldn't help but mumble.
"Make sure to take care of each-other".